Stoke City duo will hope to see Ipswich Town win transfer race - high-profile link will leave them worried | OneFootball

Stoke City have been linked with German centre-back Antonios Papadopoulos, who currently plies his trade with Swiss outfit Lugano

Stoke City, along with Ipswich Town, have been linked with former Borussia Dortmund defender Antonios Papadopoulos, who is currently playing his football in Switzerland for Lugano, in what could spell trouble for two of the Potters' centre-backs.

Under former Coventry City gaffer Mark Robins, Stoke City have emerged as real top-six contenders in the EFL Championship this season.

The Potters narrowly avoided relegation to League One by the skin of their teeth last season, with Robins joining the club in January to replace the outgoing Narcis Pelach, staving the side away from demotion to the third tier.

Stoke had the second-worst defence in the league last season, with only Plymouth Argyle conceding more, with a huge amount of the credit towards the club's survival going to Swedish international goalkeeper Viktor Johansson.

It may come as a surprise to many, including Stoke fans, to see their side possess the best defensive record in the second tier this season after 18 games, having conceded just 14 goals at this stage, four fewer than the next best Coventry City.

Robins has solidified the Potters' defence, largely with much of the same players from last season, with only former West Ham left-back Aaron Cresswell being the newest addition to the defence, with each of Junior Tchamadeu, Ben Wilmot, and Ashley Phillips retaining their places in the side from the season prior.

Bosun Lawal has come in and out of the side to rotate with Wilmot and Phillips, which has subsequently left summer signing Maksym Talovierov and club captain Ben Gibson out in the cold for much of the season.

With Football Insider linking the Potters with a move for German centre-back Antonios Papadopoulos, this could spell trouble for the out-of-favour duo, though Stoke are not alone in the race for his signature, with Championship rivals Ipswich Town also monitoring the situation.

Stoke City's link to Antonios Papadopoulos could spell trouble for Maksym Talovierov and Ben Gibson

Stoke's link with German centre-back Papadopoulos could spell trouble for Potters duo Ben Gibson and Maksym Talovierov, who are low down in the side's pecking order at the moment.

Gibson has failed to make a single league appearance this season, having been brought in during the summer of 2024 on a free transfer following his release from Norwich City, and was appointed the club's captain as well as a lucrative £35k-per-week three-year deal in the Potteries.

The former Middlesbrough and Burnley centre-back has fallen out of favour under Robins, having featured prominently under both Steven Schumacher and Narcis Pelach before him, and is currently the fifth-choice centre-back in the squad.

Talovierov, a 25-year-old full Ukrainian international who broke Plymouth Argyle's transfer record less than a year ago, has seen his game time drastically limited since arriving in Staffordshire this summer from Devon.

The six-foot-five-inch defender has made just one league appearance for the Potters thus far, where he was incidentally awarded the Man of the Match award in Stoke's 1-0 away victory to Portsmouth, where he played out of position at right-back.

Each of Wilmot, Phillips, and Lawal have all been preferred at centre-back this season, with the latter having spent a portion of time out injured yet still coming on to replace the injured Wilmot in Stoke's 3-0 home win over Charlton, with Talovierov left rooted to the bench.

Should the Potters seriously make a move for Papadopoulos, you can only imagine that one, maybe two of the five are on the way out, and with Gibson being notoriously hard to shift due to his obscene wages, one can only presume that Talovierov is the most likely to move on.

Whatever the case, both Gibson and Talovierov will not exactly be welcoming the news of the link to another centre-back, with their chances of breaking into the side ever-decreasing.

Stoke City may delve into the January window to boost promotion prospects, with Antonios Papadopoulos being a possible target

Despite their recent downturn in form, Stoke will still hold prospects of promotion this campaign.

The Potters have failed to finish higher than 14th place in the Championship since relegation from the Premier League in 2018, yet look to buck that trend in style this season by earning promotion back to the top flight.

They stand little chance of catching Coventry City in first, who are 13 points clear of them, though Middlesbrough in second are just three points ahead, with the second automatic promotion spot up for grabs for a large portion of the division.

Robins may choose to delve into the market this January to bolster his side's promotion hopes with a move for Papadopoulos, who has been a regular for Swiss outfit Lugano this campaign.

Papadopoulos spent three years with Borussia Dortmund's second team in the third tier of German football, and is now in his second season in Switzerland, with links to both Stoke and Ipswich emerging.

The Potters will do well to fend off competition from the Tractor Boys for his signature, and if Stoke are serious about promotion this season, they will do everything they can to obtain his signature.